23 May 2026; Joe McCarthy of Leinster and teammates during the Investec Champions Cup final match between Leinster and Union Bordeaux Bégles at San Mamés Stadium in Bilbao, Spain. Photo by Brendan Moran/Sportsfile
16 May 2026; Joe McCarthy of Leinster runs in his second and his side’s seventh try during the United Rugby Championship match between Leinster and Ospreys at the Aviva Stadium in Dublin. Photo by Brendan Moran/Sportsfile
Leinster tore into the Ospreys with a ruthless 68–14 win at the Aviva, powered by Joe McCarthy’s hat‑trick, a suffocating defensive press, and big returns for Jordan Larmour and James Lowe. Jeff is joined by Ciarán Duffy (Post to Post Sport) for cap number 47 to break down the performance, the selection calls, the defensive resurgence, and what it all means heading into the Champions Cup Final.
We also take a spin around the URC — Munster clinching playoffs, Connacht’s late push, Ulster’s Challenge Cup wrinkle — plus Ireland Women’s record-setting Aviva win.
A full URC season rewind, a look ahead to Bordeaux, and plenty of Harpin flavour.
Cormac Mannion No injuries by the looks of it and hopefully Tommy was not started merely as a precaution. I thought Lowe was in with a chance of starting next week but bloody hell Larmour had an absolute stormer. Lowe was out on his feet by the end of the game. Henshaw had a huge amount of strapping in his right leg so no idea if it’s him or Osborne who start at 12 next week. If Tommy is fit, I can see 21-23 being McGrath, Frawley and Larmour. It gives a lot of cover across the backline. Starting to get slightly upbeat about next Saturday 🙈 Conor Cronin I’ve wondered how much we learned in the past from massive wins like these, but the confidence it will give players next week is worth it. Let these players believe how good they are. Let them build on tonight for next week. Bordeaux have conceded 70+ points over the last 2 weeks, we’ve scored 90+, let’s get out next week and be at our best Greg Kelly That was a game that was on the schedule for the Ospreys and they were contracted to fulfill it. They looked from minute one like condemned men going to their death. Plus side for Leinster was the skill level was on average higher than it has been with there were some sloppy defensive reads that UBB will punish if they happen next week Christy O’Connor That was probably our most complete performance all season. Yes Osprey’s were awful, but we have played teams just as poor this season and limped to a win. Great seeing Lowe and Larmour back as well as scoring tries. Going to be a whole different challenge next week though. Colm Cunningham Saved the best till last. Hopefully a sign of whats to come next weekend. 🤞 Cobus Tromp Slaughter..No other word comes to mind.
9 May 2026; Hugo Keenan of Leinster scores his side’s third try despite the tackle of Morne van den Berg of Lions during the United Rugby Championship match between Leinster and Lions at the Aviva Stadium in Dublin. Photo by Brendan Moran/Sportsfile
When Sam came off he didn’t take any hands from his team mates and he sat away from them. He knows himself things aren’t going well. I think a break from the game will do him good. We all love rugby but we can’t let it bring us down. He is a fantastic young man and hope things work out for him.
Lorcán Murphy
I get changes are necessary but it’s still more of the same disjointed performances. How we’re top 3 and in an EPCR final shows the quality we have but it’s hard to imagine any silverware will be won this year.
Christy O’Connor
Mangan was the highlight of the whole game. If the coaches don’t learn from this that Prendergast cannot be involved in the final in 2 weeks, then they need to step down. I’m not having a go at Sam, I feel sorry for him, he was thrown in at the deep end from early in his career and it hasn’t worked out for him yet.
Gavin Hegarty
It speaks volumes that we are that bad yet still in a euro final and 3rd in the URC.
This was a woeful game. So many idiotic mistakesfrom players that should know better.
Sebastian Brennan Tkacz
That was the most boring performance from Leinster I’ve ever seen. Loads of people started leaving the stadium at around 55 minutes. I agree with previous comments, Sam cannot be included for the final, his defence was extremely poor today again, and I really like his ball management. It’s between Byrne and Frawley now.
2 May 2026; Josh van der Flier of Leinster dives over to score his side’s second try during the Investec Champions Cup semi-final match between Leinster and RC Toulon at the Aviva Stadium in Dublin. Photo by Seb Daly/Sportsfile
Ken Tancred PT Think those last two tries booked Frawleys ticket to the final Jonathan Leonard Soroka made a good impact. Bit worried how Josh and Conan limped off. Hope Henshaw is alright. Win is a win. Roll on Bilbao. Gavin Hegarty First half our mistakes kept them in it. Second half we pulled away but then took the foot off and let them back in. I thought Clarkson really stood up, as did Cahir when he came in. Not a good game but a final is a final regardless of how you get there. The match started with the dreaded words that no Irish rugby fan wants to see Match TMO Ian Tempest. How can this keep on happening? Every time he clearly has an agenda against anyone Irish. He forced Pearce to review footage from 4-5 phases before jgps disallowed try. The rules state two phases is the max. This is the same guy who couldn’t find footage of a bite that was already circulating on WhatsApp. Christy O’Connor Not having Frawley in the squad almost cost us. Reiko showed up today and made two very important tackles. Did nobody tell the TMO he was allowed to check things against Toulon, seemed only interested in finding Leinster mistakes Karen Mooney Brilliant I was on radio.. when they came out 13 down they really show how good they are… Mike Whelan We won – we are in the final. It’s the only outcome required. The rest is noise. John Jones Frawley on the bench for the final and hopefully Baird back would make a difference Louis Hoffman Phew Harry Byrne was dreadful. Whole empty pitch to kick into and boots it out on the full 🙄 Bernie Cunningham Gosh we nearly threw away a 18pt lead, Bordeaux or Bath wont give us a 18pt lead. But final again its a 50/50 chance of 5th star, Lenister need to really to be at full strength. 🤞 Oran Burns Frawley has to get some game time at 10 and start in the final Clive Young Prendgast in for 10 mins , cost a try and nearly another , not up to it , Frawley on the bench Colin Campbell Bilbao nothing else 💙💙💙💙 Cuan Mulligan having coached kids from u6 – u16, Pendergast looks like someone who has never been taught how to tackle, he is trying to tackle with his finger tips. I think he could do with some time out of the limelight in the AIL…let him play week in week out and focus on the fundamentals. James Murphy Wow, lucky Pendergast is a real liability Even more so on the wing. We look wrecked with 10 to go Chris McDonnell Great to be in the final but the Pendergast debacle has to stop.
As I explained on the pod, there was no Facebook post this week so here are some reactions from the full time whistle in the Harpin WhatsApp group, including my own from Sunday morning when I watched the match myself for the first time…
David Cordial So many moments where we did all the hard work and were inches away and it was only fitting the last pass that cost us
Ciarán Duffy Honestly not good enough from Leinster. It’s been a season of not waking up. Sleepwalking. We’ve had enough kicks up the arse at this stage to switch on, have to learn from this ahead of next week.
Conor Cronin
Heads in next week without earning the right to play there
Richard Mifsud
The reality is we’ve been poor and disjointed all season and this coaching ticket requires a massive shake up because the voices in that dressing room are clearly stale and stagnant Which means we’ll probably go on and win the double 🤣
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